Lunar Eclipse in Aquarius: Astrology of 7/25 – 7/31

This week’s Full Moon in Aquarius is a lunar eclipse, with the Sun and Moon each only one degree away from the lunar nodes. Eclipses bring a lot of themes around exits and entrances – transitions we can actually feel and recognize in our life; change.

A polarity that is activated between Aquarius and Leo, via our Full Moon axis and the lunar nodes, is that which brings us into the heart of living, playing, expressing (Leo), and that which pulls us away to witness, observe, and detach (Aquarius). And why might we switch between them? When we lack external perspective because we are so immersed in our own dramas, we step back and gain a more systemic view of the ecosystems we are a part of. When we have long been distant and high-up, viewing our lives as though we are a witness rather than a participant, we feel the call to get involved again, to connect to our heart.

While the Sun amasses karmic gravity as it touches the North Node in Leo, we can be feeling a call to materialize and manifest our creative visions and our romances with life. This light directly shines upon the Moon and Mars in Aquarius on the South Node, revealing historic ego structures within our emotional bodies. These structures can come up for review and pass as we move toward a bigger life. The challenge is to learn how to clear old patterns, rather than to re-perpetuate them.

Interestingly, moving on from the past – leaving behind what we’d like to leave behind and bringing with us what we’d like to bring with us – does not come from ignorance or a purely future-minded gaze. Often we have to process where we’ve come from and gain intelligence on it. There is power in understanding what it is exactly that you are letting go of.

If you haven’t gotten on my mailing list already, I’d love to share with you what I’ve written on this Mars retrograde cycle. This week as our lunar eclipse will be conjunct Mars, a lot of the themes I’ve written about in this book are especially relevant. When you sign up for my list, you’ll receive a free mini e-book on this transit and then you’ll receive the weekly forecasts straight to your inbox, too. Sign up here.

Here’s our week:

July 25, 2018

Sun in 2 Leo square Uranus in 2 Taurus: 4:35 AM PDT

(Image: Meret Oppenheim)

• Processes of creative and self reinventions are likely to be occuring.

• This transit can mark an ability to access creative visions which are either surprisingly executable now, or will take lots of time to manifest. In the case of the first, it’s like a quantum creative leap, feeling into a radical and present potential. In the case of the latter, it’s like having future-vision and getting the download far enough in the past to begin to be able to pave it out. The difference between the two can relate largely to how much ground has already been covered regarding the foundations; or, is the soil fertile yet.

• There is a tension to this transit – such as a dislike for limitations on freedom and the perception at this time of what those limitations are. There may also be an urgency to manifest things ahead of their time while in reality, things will manifest most securely/stick when they are on time. The internal pressure however, to create – is a kind of fire that stokes invention and ingenuity. Those feeling this pressure may vacillate between pushes of energy to create and needed rest/integration times. Feelings of lethargy are possible after/between burning brightly.

• Sun-Uranus contacts can relate to bursts of joy, peak experience. With Sun in Leo and Uranus in Taurus, note opportunities to luxuriate in playfulness, sensuality, romance, food. Even moderation is best in moderation. 😉 It is possible we would find new ways to relate to these themes, especially if our sensitivity or receptiveness to pleasure is heightened and less takes us farther than it would when we were less sensitive.

• Matters of the mundane, or even just having an ordinary day – can suddenly shift with creative attitudes. It’s like deciding to have an awesome day, and the day actually becoming infused with brighter color. 

Mercury stations retrograde in 23 Leo: 10:02 PM PDT

Mercury stations direct August 18, 2018 in 11 Leo where it will be in orb of a conjunction to the North Node. Mercury leaves retrograde shadow on September 1, 2018. Throughout this retrograde, Mercury will be squaring Jupiter in Scorpio.

• This can signal a joyfulness regarding shadow work, as parts of ourselves placed in shadow return to conscious awareness and we feel vivified by the reunion. Jupiter in Scorpio brings treasure from the underworld while Mercury in Leo shines light upon it through conscious, intelligible awareness.

• Leo-Scorpio squares can correlate with meanness, like a very theatrical and impactful Leonine way of stinging (Scorpio). As Mercury is retrograde, this can relate to an internalization of the pressures that surround the impulse to lash out. Why do cats hiss, and what is that in the human?

• Humor and absurdity are tools of Leo here, to shine light into the shadows. Not being able to laugh at oneself or wanting to be taken so very seriously can be signals of a defensive ego. And while it is also valuable to know what is important to us and to be loyal to it, it can take a weirder turn as it gets crusty. Humor would often, under this transit, dispel what is otherwise becoming unbearable to uphold.

• Mercury retrograde relates to an internalization and acceleration of the Mercury archetype through the filter of whatever sign it’s in – we go over again a set of themes instead of breezing past them. How we identify, speak to, digest, and metabolize what is on our heart will be a theme of this retrograde. This can mean feeling and voicing what is vulnerable instead of dismissing or intellectualizing it.

July 26, 2018

Sun in 4 Leo opposite Mars in 4 Aquarius: 10:13 PM PDT

Mars only opposes the Sun when Mars is retrograde – this is a transit that only comes around once every two years. This time, Mars is also part of a grand fixed cross with Uranus in Taurus, (the Sun in Leo), and Jupiter in Scorpio. The lunar nodes in Aquarius and Leo also line up with this cross. Mars is stretched in multiple dynamic tensions right now, though it is often said that Mars thrives with conflict.

• While we may feeling tons of tensions right now, one strength emerging out of this is the crystallization of insight that emerges because of gridlock. Gridlock can accelerate our understanding of various conflicting energies that have reached a peak of expression and that require us to do something new that breaks free from the peak of limitation. In certain situations, this can mean not doing anything where one otherwise would have started a conflict. It can mean realizing that our will is no longer invested in a pursuit for the reasons that we thought we were, and that to press onward would be for reasons we don’t resonate with.

• As we reorient to a truer sense of how our will wants to express (beyond engrained impulses, prideful response, etc.) we may feel layers of freedom that are felt as very spiritual. Effortless action.

• But in between, and before, that kind of peace can be the tensions and challenges that end up inspiring it. Mars retrograde is a time of internalizing the Martian impulse, which can mean asking why we react the ways that we do and considering our reactions instead of just having them. This process ends up accelerating our evolution. Part of the challenge within this is that life is still presenting us with moments asking for our attention and participation AS we are considering how to show up. It’s like sparring with life. Here, life is always walking with us, drawing things out of us, responding to us, calling us.

• Read more about Mars retrograde by signing up for my mailing list if you haven’t already – you’ll receive a mini e-book on this transit when you do!

July 27, 2018

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in 4 Aquarius: 1:20 PM PDT

The Sun and Moon are only one degree away from the lunar node axis, and Mars is only a degree away from the Moon (and 2 degrees away from the South Node) – making this a potent eclipse.

• Exciting, bright things can be entering our lives. The Sun in Leo is on the North Node! When the Sun and the North Node form a conjunction, it’s a signature that often corresponds in natal charts with larger-than-life figures, people who can really materialize their creativity in this lifetime. As a transit, it also relates to this influence but in our current happenings – bursts of creative power and manifestation.

• Whenever our life is upgrading or we are hoping for an upgrade, we make space by letting go of our baggage like destructive habits, addictions, mindsets, etc. When a part of our life gets brighter, it can shine light on other areas that are ready to receive an upgrade too.

• With the Moon and Mars retrograde on the South Node, something we might be letting go of is our ego constructs around struggle – that side of us that will perpetuate conflict when things get better just because we are so used to fighting, for whatever reason. We can also be letting go of our over-identification with past traumas that have still left an imprint on us.

• Letting go of these things may not be as simple as a decision or a conviction. Consider instead life upgrades which enhance your environment. It has been said that environment is more powerful than willpower – so if you can work things into your environment that support your thrival, you’ll be giving yourself a lot of leverage to manifest your dreams and optimal wellbeing.

• For those who are skilled at spiritual bypass (like always having a positive attitude, sprinkling magic on things, being able to see the bigger picture all of the time and forgiving instead of working with the smaller picture, etc.), this may signify a good time to really listen to your feelings, take note of what is irritating you. You know already that you don’t have to live there – but connecting with that human side of your experience can help you gain insights on how to move forward, how to attend to what is needed.

• Generally, this would be a useful time to engage witness consciousness and be aware of what is happening. So often we have projections onto reality instead of actually seeing what is happening. But we get into deeper layers of clarity and insight by witnessing. You can even witness your projections fall away as you don’t get tangled in them and creating more stories around them. By seeking to attune to what is, we may experience resonance – that sense of electricity when something really impacts you as truthful.

Venus in 19 Virgo trine Pluto in 19 Capricorn: 6:25 PM PDT

(Image: Faye Dunmall)

Venus in Virgo has already been up to some deep work with their contacts to Neptune in Pisces and Jupiter in Scorpio – so it continues here, with Pluto in Capricorn.

• Becoming aware of what we really desire is often a purification process; shedding layers of conditioned desires or shame and judgement around wanting what we want. There is support with this transit to peel back some of these layers, to become more discerning about what is really ours versus what is something we’ve bonded with that doesn’t harmonize with our consciousness.

• We may be discerning between whether withholding/blocking something in our lives is unnecessarily defensive and restrictive, or if it is wise. There may be a difference that helps in whether we are avoiding an inevitable growth process and staying where its safe instead of evolving (creating stagnation), or if we are preventing ourselves from making a familiar mistake we’ve already learned from (maturity and discernment).

• People can withhold themselves from experience out of the feeling of not being ready. This too, creates another scenario of discernment as sometimes this is a judicious sense of timing and other times it is a form of avoidance.

• In the situations alluded to above, one deeper motivation at play is the motivation of having it together and being perfect in having it together – so we will stick to places where we are sure we can have it together. Rather than simply playing to one’s strengths and avoiding the unknown or weaknesses, it is also possible to use strength to leverage areas that are less developed – in a way, consciously guiding ourselves into more challenging territories but having some support going into it until you have your bearings in a totally fresh way.

• Making a practice of developing less-developed parts of ourselves, learning new things, improving, etc. is an act related to both humility and mastery. Not being scared of the discomfort, but learning as one goes, can yield significant harvests on both psychic and material channels.

Thank you for meditating on the planets with me! Let me know how you’re doing in the comments, and please share this article with your friends on social media!

Book a reading with me for more personalized guidance and insights about your natal chart.

~Sabrina Monarch

Sabrina Monarch is a soul-centered Evolutionary Astrologer who publishes weekly astrological forecasts, works with clients and teaches. She has been collecting astrological experience for over a decade. She is a novelist and is currently pursuing her masters in Philosophy. She also enjoys kundalini yoga, meditation and ashtanga yoga.